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Published: July 21st 2011
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Yosmite
Along the mist trail So it’s been over a week from our last update and we have done a heck of a lot in that time!!! We left San Francisco and made the drive to Yosemite where we stayed in a hostel about 30 miles out of Yosemite park. And by hostel I mean a very basic cabin tent thing with hard bed and a light! It was a little trek to the toilets and shower so of course there were many midnight bush squats=D! It was nice but basic and very different to anything we’ve stayed in so far! We spent the night having dinner, beers and board games in the hostels café.
Our very first day there we jumped in the car and drove into Yosemite park(which took over an hour to get to the valley), got ourselves a map and decided to head out on the mist trail. Little did we know that we would get drenched from one of the waterfalls! We did about 8 miles of walking that day but it was well worth it for the views we saw along the way (you can see in the photos!)
The next day we decided to have a rest and
Yosemite
Along the mist trail relax day. We ventured into the nearby town of Mariposa where it didn’t take long to walk from one end to the other (their population is about 750). We also did a lot of sitting around, reading and hanging out at the hostel.
Day 3 and we headed into the park again to walk the 4 mile trail thinking it would be easy and we could do another afterwards. We were VERY wrong! The trail was actually 4.6 miles (ONE WAY!) and it was not an easy feat. It was over 35 degrees celcius, up a steep dusty gravel track. Although we climbed it super fast (they say it would take 3-4hours one way, it only took us 2!) we were COMPLETELY buggered when we reached the top and absolutely dreaded going back down. It was a killer!!! However the views from the top of Glacier point were pretty amazing and I felt rewarded for of my hard work! After going back down and making it back to the car the days mileage was over 10 miles! That’s 16km peoples!!
So that was it for us at Yosemite National Park. We had such a great experience and the photos speak
for themselves. It was totally amazing and we had a great time getting much needed exercise in;D!
The next day we jumped in the car to start the drive to Vegas!!!! We’d planned to take it easy so we did the drive over 3 days. Our first stop was Lone Pine. However the 4 and a half hour drive quickly stretched out to 6 and a half after delays getting onto the main highway through Yosemite. Very frustrating!
Lone Pine is a small town of about 1800 people but it was big enough to have all the comforts of McDonalds and Subway=D! We did very little here however a highlight was that we had pizza for dinner at the Pizza Factory (it’s another chain restaurant) across the road from our hotel. After a sleepless night and a very scary Sarah punching the wall at 7 am because she could hear the person next door incessantly snoring we headed off for a short drive to Death Valley for some extreme heat. It was over 45 degrees outside and smothered you if you stayed in it for too long. After we checked into our hotel at Stovepipe Wells we headed out
to see some of the Death Valley National Park. At one particular point at Badwater we got out of the car for about 15 mins and I think Sarah just about passed out due to the heat! Badwater is the lowest point in the western world at 282 feet below sea level, it was fascinating seeing the salt flats and Sarah had fun rolling around on it! The mountains surrounding the valley were so beautiful and contracting! From charcoal black rocks to bright red and even mountains coloured in pastels!
Death Valley was totally worth seeing and it’s national park was a total contrast to Yosemite National Park. It was definitely fun driving through the desert and nothingness!
We said goodbye to Death Valley the next morning after another disturbed night of sleep and made our way into Las Vegas! The drive to Las Vegas was smooth and easy and even stopped at a Walmart along the way! (Sarah was kept happy!)
After making it to our hotel in Vegas and checked in we were very excited to see we’d booked some really great accommodation(for cheap)!!! For less $80 a night we have a one bedroom apartment with a
full kitchen, dining table, lougeroom fit with a chase sofa and big tv with cable! Plus a big comfy bed(complete with a billion pillows), another tv and ensuite!! Plus we are only 1 block from the action of ‘The Strip’. Aaah the life!!!!!
After settling in we made a trip to the supermarket to get some supplies (Yay we get to do some cooking!) then settled in for complementary drinks in the lobby!!
Now tonight is our second night here. Today we drove to the Las Vegas sign where we got some very cool photos and also drove up and down the strip. Tonight we rode the New York New York rollercoaster, walked up and down the strip, had many beers, played slots at a few casinos and went to M & M’s World! Somewhere in between we also fit in a load of washing (what can I say, we’re talented=D!).
Vegas is out of control but really cool! We still have 5 more nights of insaneness here and I’m sure there will be lots more beers, casinos, shows and goodtimes to come. I’ll try update one more time before we leave Vegas but for now I need to
finish my drink it’s 3:05am and I’m not going to post this till the morning because I’m sure I’ve made a mess of this!!!!
Hope you enjoy all the photos they tell the story better than my words!
Love
Hendo & Sarah (we both had a part in writing this one!)
XOXO
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